Today is International House Sparrow Day

On the 20th of March, the existance of the common house sparrow is celebrated the world over. We all have a soft spot for this little bird. Sparrows are cheeky! They don't mind at all being around us humans (especially if we are owners of a 'grain' or kirana store!).
We have always taken this cheerful little bird for granted. Now a terrible thing is happening. The house sparrow is slowly disappearing and is actually struggling to survive. In Mumbai, we know the problem - massive depletion of greenary, constant construction work and road building going on, makes it very difficult for this little bird to locate suitable nesting sites.
Sparrows do make pathetic attempts inside buildings, putting together untidy nests in electric boxes and so on. Of course, we know what happens next - the nest is simply thrown out and the hopeful pair have no place for their eggs or their off-spring.
How can we help our sparrow friends ?
Modern roofs are not sparrow friendly. We need to provide them with other alternatives to nest. A nest box in a sheltered place in the building, would be helpful even though sparrows often take a year before 'adopting' them.
Young sparrows need lots of insects to feed on, so insect-friendly gardens and areas of open soil (free of the usual cement cover), may help to slow the decline of this endearing little bird.
In Maharashtra, there is a young man who has worked ceaselessly to make things better for the sparrow. His name is Dilawar Mohammed and he is such a tireless crusader for the cause, that Time Magazine named him Hero of the Environment in 2008. For more information on how you can help save and nurture this cheerful little bird, go to his web site www.natureforever.org/adopt.html

Accenture Employees Visiting IDA Deonar

Want to know the secret of happiness? It's holding and playing with a small puppy! These young employees from Accenture, enjoyed themselves on their conducted tour around the IDA Deonar Centre. They met all our lovely inmates and particularly enjoyed themselves with the young ones. The young lady in the last picture is almost surrounded by the fat puppy brigade, and Gunner, the large pup at the side of her is singing his head off! All of them just love to have company, especially the human kind!

The First IDA School Programme

The IDA team visited a school in Bandra and got to meet two divisions of 5th Std kids. This is our recent venture - spreading awareness with regard to animal issues among school children. We went well armed with jigsaw puzzles, quiz games, interesting props and lots of information to give to all the kids involved. All of them enjoyed the session and through some noisy, and sometimes boisterous interaction, we managed to 'educate' them about animal companions and their needs and stray dogs and how many things they need as well. We are looking forward to carrying out many such programmes and will be preparing to deal with as many animal issues as we can.

This Here is 'Ajo'

The model you see in the pictures is Ajo, whose loving Guardian Angel provided her with this attractive T shirt. Anyone who choses to be a GA for one of our resident dogs, provides comforts, lots of love, and a good amount of funding for the entire year to see to the chosen one's needs.
Ajo is wearing such an important message. There are so many great Indian dogs available for adoption. They are so intelligent with such strong constitutions, that they are a pleasure to look after. These are dogs that have been around on the Sub-Continent for thousands of years and have beautifully adapted to the environment and climatic conditions here. If you are thinking of adopting a truly great companion, an Indian dog is a really wise choice.
Besides, they come at no cost and are just waiting to enter your life and fill it up with boundless love and affection.

IDA Stall at Dog A Fair at Radio Club Colaba

The cute little yellow kiosk you see belongs to IDA India. Isn't it just great? It was set up at the Radio Club venue at the event 'Dog A Fair' and happily attracted a lot of people interested in finding out what IDA is all about. Manning the stall all day, for three days, until late into the evening were members of our staff and some very willing volunteers.

Our attractive new merchandise can be seen in the last picture. Most of the items went like hotcakes, and that is very good news for our four-legged friends! All proceeds go to making their lives as comfortable and happy as possible.

IDA India Jumble Sale

The Jumble Sale is one of our quarterly fund-raising events. Every little helps, as all the proceeds go towards the care of all the huge numbers of animals that we look after on a daily basis. The youngsters you can see are IDA volunteers who help out at our events. This sale took place in Bandra - the location is great! Where do all the items for sale come from? They are all donated by generous people like you! The next IDA Jumble Sale will be in about two months time, so don't forget. Besides volunteers we need lots and lots of visitors to make this type of fund raiser a success.

An IDA Biker at Deonar

This is for all you Jackie fans. This big boy is one cool dude. He got onto the bike of our Chief Vet Dr. Guruprasad at Deonar, and refused to get off!! He's one of the first to greet us whenever we visit the Centre and from his handsome face, one can tell he has a sense of humour! He's one of our big males at Deonar but he is extremely pleasant and unlike most of the heavy weights, is not into growling and fighting. But he is an alpha all right and one of our popular sponsored dogs.